The Lebanese Ministry of Health has confirmed that elderly people who had been evacuated from a retirement home the previous evening in Tripoli (North) after suffering symptoms of cholera are indeed suffering from the disease, and are currently in a steady state.
After the information relating to the hospitalization of these people, the Ministry of Health sent a team to the scene to undergo rapid tests, which revealed that they were suffering from cholera, a disease that reappeared last October in Lebanon for the first time in thirty years. “Patients suffering from diarrhea have been isolated and fourteen people have been admitted to the government hospital in Tripoli, as a precautionary measure,” the ministry said in a statement released Sunday evening. Shortly before, our correspondent in the region, Michel Hallak, had mentioned about twenty hospitalizations. “The condition of these people is stable”, adds the text.
“The other people who don’t show symptoms, or who weren’t contaminated, have started to be vaccinated” against the disease, specifies the ministry, which adds that they are about 250 elderly people.
Specimens
The administration also took water and food samples from the nursing home to establish the source of the contamination.
The Ministry of Health has invited the population to pay particular attention to cholera. “The epidemic is not over, despite the efforts made in the last two months which have made it possible to limit contamination”, he said, calling for compliance with the preventive hygienic-sanitary measures, drinking only potable water, disinfecting fruit and vegetables and obtaining vaccinated, “especially in the targeted areas”.
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On Sunday evening, the ministry also announced a new officially registered case in the past 24 hours, reporting no new deaths. In all, the disease has killed 20 people in recent weeks and infected 601 people in the country. The vaccination campaign launched more than two weeks ago has immunized more than 400,000 people.
Cholera is usually caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which is often found in feces. Infected people can suffer from acute diarrhea, but the disease can also be asymptomatic.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed that elderly people who had been evacuated from a rest home the previous evening in Tripoli (North) after suffering symptoms of cholera are indeed suffering from this disease and are currently in a steady state. After the information relating to the hospitalization of these people, the Ministry of …
